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Thursday, 27 July 2017

I have just had a meeting with Helm(dream in Arabic) http://www.helmegypt.org/ This wonderful
organisation started as a little club in AUC and is now an award winning (two scholarships one from MIT and one from Havard) organisation making things happen all over Egypt. They have done loads
of accessibility projects in education and corporates in Cairo and are now looking at Luxor. It must be serendipity that they got my email just before they came. And we found we had spoken to
the same person at the minisitry plus in their meeting with the governor he had
been briefed and we think it was from one of my early papers.

They also want to make the temples accessible, change the perception of Luxor and make some public roads more disabled friendly. They are going to be coming to Luxor a lot of the next few months and we are going to work together.

We talked together for hours, I explained my interest, they
explained theirs and we talked about what they had done and what they are
hoping to do in Luxor. They understood my interest in the project is both a
general and a business one. They thought this was a perfect example, as what
they are trying to do explain to businesses the benefits of catering to
disabled people. They also loved my guide book with its addition of access tips
for disabled plus site onformation. They thought it was unique in Egypt and would
like to see it done elsewhere. They want to promote that as well, as another example
of how catering for the disabled helps you.

Helm, translating to “Dream”, is a non-profit organization that aims to
promote the full inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in all aspects
of life, and specifically, to facilitate their employment and ensure
that private and public premises are accessible to all. Helm is proud to
be the first prize-winner in Negma Social Entrepreneurship Competition
in MIT, USA in 2013, and was also awarded the Rise Egypt Fellowship,
Harvard University, USA for 2014-2016.

Thursday, 20 July 2017

I just an email from these people Helm Do have a look at their website.

I cant explain how excited I am as I really wanted an Egyptian organisation to pick this up and run with it..

The email said "Your email is actually spot on! This is exactly our focus for 2017/2018 we will be working on Luxor temples and other main locations to become more accessible. We will be in Luxor maybe next week or the week after to discuss the project further wit the Governor of Luxor.

I'll email you when we know the exact date so we can meet during our visit to Luxor"

"Famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass and his team say
they've found evidence of a tomb that could belong to King Tut's wife.The archaeologists eventually plan to
excavate the new tomb, which is located near the tomb of the pharaoh Ay

(1327-1323 B.C.) in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Hawass
told Live Science. "We are sure there is a tomb there, but we do not know
for sure to whom it belongs," Hawass told Live Science in an email. On
July 7, National Geographic Italia published an article in Italian suggesting
that a team led by Hawass had found a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and
Hawass confirmed that discovery to Live Science. "We are sure there is a
tomb hidden in that area because I found four foundation deposits,"

Hawass said, explaining that the foundations are
"caches or holes in the ground that were filled with votive objects such
as pottery vessels, food remains and other tools as a sign that a tomb
construction is being initiated." "The ancient Egyptians usually did
four or five foundation deposits whenever they started a tomb's
construction," Hawass said. Additionally, "the radar did detect a substructure
that could be the entrance of a tomb."(...) Hawass said he will direct the
future excavations at the site. (..)"

[Submitted by Kat Newkirk]

* Other English press reports, based on the above press
report (adding nothing extra):

* The Minister has hinted at "an important
archaeological discovery that will astonish the whole world, (..) a graveyard
dating dating back to the Pharaonic era" being in the pipeline, but
without giving any details:

* Please note that MoA has NOT issued any official press
releases yet about the scanning results, making the Italian interview
premature/indiscreet.

Also note that no tomb has been found yet, despite the
headers of the press reports; a scanning anomaly does nót make a discovered
tomb and speculation about any owner is even more premature.

* The foundation deposits mentioned seem to be those
found in 2007-2011 by a team with Afifi Rohim Affifi as field
supervisor, and might belong to an unfinished tomb; their report with photos
and plans can be read online (with thanks to Jan Bailey for the

URL!):

Afifi Rohim Afifi and Glen Dash, "The Discovery of
Intact Foundation Deposits in the Western Valley of the Valley of the
Kings", Proceedings CRE 2014 (2015), pp. 1-12

Saturday, 15 July 2017

Amenemhat is "steward of the Vizier", as well as "scribe who reckons
the corn in the granary of the divine offerings of Amun,” during the reign of
Tuthmosis III. Though he appears as a subordinate personage to us, he is a rich
and cultured dignitary.

Amenemhat had profound knowledge of religious beliefs and
of the most complex myths, an astonishing accomplishment for someone not
holding any priestly office. For instance, he reused spells from the Pyramid
Texts, the great funerary corpus of the Old Kingdom, something few notables
of his time were capable of doing.

Amenemhat was able to create a tomb rich in information about the
Egyptian ideas about of death and rebirth, and divine beliefs in general. So
much so that TT82 is an essential source of knowledge concerning the funeral
practices of the time.

While punctiliously respecting traditions, Amenemhat was also an innovator, and
it is in his tomb that the oldest known magic bricks have been discovered.

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UK - co-owner of Flats in Luxor Group. British in origin, Egyptian at heart. First visited Egypt in 1979 and finally got to move here in 2003. Been there, done it and got the t-shirt(IT Consultant, PCG Chairman, ex cult member). Finally living my dream: Egyptology (doing an online Egyptology course at Manchester Uni), sunshine, cold beer and Mahmoud. What more could a girl want?